Bubblegum Bonfire
by efemanatepixie
Summary: Sequel to 'Apprentices" After an accident, Vince and Sapphire leave the Nabootique without any intention of returning. How will they make money to survive and will Vince ever forgive Howard for what happened? I don't own any of the songs used unless noted
1. Disaster Strikes

**This is a sequel to "Apprentices", so if you read that Apprentices first, this will make more sense.**

**Note: I do NOT own Vince, Howard or Naboo but I DO own Sapphire and Peter. :)**

* * *

"Look at this, Sapphire. It's a special edition Gary Numan album." Vince said, showing her a CD wrapped in plastic. "It's rumoured that he _actually _put this in its box and sold it on eBay."

"Are either of you gonna help me with this stock or are you just gonna look at that piece of musical stench?" Howard shouted up the stairs.

"IT'S NOT MUSICAL STENCH!" They shouted in unison.

Howard sighed. The pile of stock he was carrying teetered. An ornamental music box fell from the top and, unfortunately, it fell onto Vince's Mick Jagger shrine that he kept in the corner. A candle fell over and it all went up in flames. Panicking, Howard dropped the stock and looked around desperately for the fire extinguisher.

A smoke alarm beeped shrilly from downstairs.

"What's happening?!" Peter asked fearfully, coming out of his room.

"Howard's set fire to something." Sapphire replied, smelling smoke.

"Oh crap! My Jagger shrine's down there!!!" Vince shouted in terror.

"Not to mention your best friend." Peter added, but Vince ignored him. He rushed downstairs.

"VINCE!!!!!" Where's the fire extinguisher?" Howard yelled as Vince came downstairs.

"It caught fire last time I tried cooking. It was "Made In Britain"!" Vince replied.

Then he screamed so shrilly it covered up the sound of the smoke alarm. "My shrine!!!!"

The shrine had been reduced to ashes.

"I hate you Howard!!" Vince screamed, slamming the door behind him.

"Wait for me!" Sapphire cried, running after him.

Peter came downstairs with a bucket of water which he threw onto the fire. The flames hissed then died out.

"What are we going to do, Peter?" Howard asked, slumping to the floor. "Vince and Sapphire have gone, all our new stock burnt with that shrine and the shop stinks of burning photographs."

"I don't know," Peter replied despondently. "Sapphire left her phone here so there's no way of contacting them and Naboo's gonna be furious."

They sat in silence for a while, thinking. How were they going to locate Sapphire and Vince and even if they did, would Vince ever forgive Howard for what happened? The silence was broken when Naboo came in. He looked from the depressed jazz musicians sitting on the floor to the smoking pile of ashes in the corner.

"What the hell happened here!!?" He yelled, waking Howard and Peter from their thoughts.

Howard jumped to his feet. "Uh…well…what happened was -"

"I don't want to hear any excuses!" Naboo interrupted. "Tell me exactly what happened!"

"Right…well…" Howard couldn't form the words. He was terrified of the furious look in Naboo's eyes. Peter sighed and stood up.

"What happened was," Peter began as Howard smiled gratefully at him. "Vince and Sapphire were upstairs, drooling over some CD, and Howard shouted upstairs for some help. They ignored him and he sighed, which caused the colossal pile of stock he was carrying to wobble. Something fell off the top and onto Vince's Mick Jagger shrine. A candle fell over and set light to the whole shrine. Howard dropped the stock, which then caught fire." He gestured to the pile of smouldering ashes in the corner.

Howard, who had now regained the ability to speak now that Naboo had calmed down, added "Then Vince came downstairs, noticed that his shrine was on fire, screamed that he hated me then stormed out of the door, followed by Sapphire. Unfortunately, she forgot her phone so we can't contact them."

"Right, I can see this was an accident. I need to think." Naboo said, going upstairs.

"This is just great. If he can't think of anything, no-one can." Howard sighed and resumed his depressed position on the floor. Peter put his hand on Howard's shoulder comfortingly.

"Don't worry. I'm sure he'll figure something out."

Hours later, Vince was huddled under Sapphire's thin coat while she sat next to him, worried. After they left the shop, Vince had gone round all of his friends asking if he and Sapphire could stay with them. They'd all refused. After that, he had gone to a chip shop and got a portion of chips and cheese for him and Sapphire. He was livid with Howard. It seemed like he would never forgive him. They had gone to the children's park to try and think of somewhere they could stay where Howard wouldn't find them. Vince had fallen asleep in the little house after about an hour. Sapphire wasn't sure what to do. She and Vince had put their money together and they only had just under a tenner. They wouldn't survive a week with savings that puny. She sat down, thinking. What could they do to raise money? She hummed under her breath, like she always did when she was thinking. Then, the idea came to her. A band! She could involve a few of her friends and they could make shed-loads of money. With that optimistic thought in her mind, she settled down to sleep.


	2. Mick Jagger photos and burgundy lifts

**Note: I do NOT own Vince, Howard or Naboo, but I DO own Sapphire, Peter, Serendipity and Artemis.**

**Serendipity and Artemis are two of my sims, btw :)**

Howard had slept fitfully. His dreams were filled with Vince and Sapphire out on the streets of London dressed in rags, begging for money. He woke with a start. Vince never had much money. How would he survive on his miniscule savings? Of course Sapphire was with him. She'd probably come up with an excellent idea to keep them going. He got up and went to get a glass of milk. He passed Naboo's room, which had a bright light glowing inside it. He passed it nonetheless. It wasn't worth his time, sticking his nose into the shaman's business.

_If he had stuck his nose in then he would have seen that Naboo was spying on Sapphire and Vince through his crystal ball. Unfortunately, his crystal ball had no sound so he didn't know what anyone was saying, but he knew they were safe enough._

Sapphire woke Vince at about 10 o clock.

"Huh? What's happening?" He mumbled.

"Vince? Are you okay?" Sapphire asked him anxiously.

"I'm fine, just tired." He replied, smiling.

"I've had an idea. You, me and a few of my friends can form a band! My friends have loads of instruments. I can sing and play guitar and my friend Serendipity can teach you how to play bass guitar. She plays electric guitar and her boyfriend Artemis plays drums. It's perfect! We'd make loads of money!" Sapphire gabbled excitedly.

"That is a good idea. Whereabouts do your friends live?" Vince asked, sitting up.

"They used to live in Plain Valley, miles from here. But they moved away because their families were irritating them too much. Artemis had 6 brothers and 4 sisters and Serendipity just wanted to move away. They live in a flat in Belsize Park." Sapphire grinned. "This is gonna be great."

"You're right. Let's get the next tube to Belsize Park."

"Howard? I'm worried," Peter said while he and Howard were watching the shop. Naboo hadn't left his room all day. "What if Vince and Sapphire don't have enough money to keep themselves going? What if -"

"Don't you think I'm thinking the same thing?!" Howard snapped, making Peter jump. "I've been thinking, maybe we could rebuild Vince's shrine of Mick Jagger? Then he wouldn't be so infuriated with me."

"That's a good idea." Peter agreed. "But where would we get all the things? Most of those things were extremely rare."

"We'll find them somewhere." Was Howard's reply.

"This is a nice place isn't it?"

Vince and Sapphire had just arrived outside the block of flats that Serendipity and Artemis lived in. There was ivy growing up the side of the building and the front garden was lit up with many exotic flowers and plants.

"Yeah, it's lovely. I wonder how they afford it? They're just teenagers." Vince thought aloud.

"Artemis's family are loaded. His mum must have given them money for a flat." Sapphire told him. "Right, they live in flat 129." She pressed the buzzer.

After a moment, someone answered. "Hello? Serendipity here."

"Hey Seren! It's me, Sapphire! I've brought my friend Vince with me. Can we come in?"

"Of course! Come right up!" She hung up.

The door opened. They went inside. There was a huge staircase, painted white and gold, with a swirling handrail. Next to that was a big burgundy lift with silver doors.

"God, this place is fancy. Let's take the lift." Vince said, looking around the lobby in amazement.

"Good idea." Sapphire replied, heading toward the lift. The door opened with a _swish_.

"Let's see…they should be on floor 7." Sapphire mused, pressing the button.

The lift zoomed up smoothly. Vince was nervous. "It's probably gonna look weird," He thought, as the lift slid up past the lower levels. "A 22-year-old in a band with a 12-year-old singer and teenage guitar and drum players." He voiced these thoughts to Sapphire.

She just laughed and said "It'll be fine. You look about 18 anyway."

He smiled. With a _ping!_ the lift reached its destination and the doors slid open. They walked out and down the corridor towards door number 129. They knocked on the door and someone opened it.

Meanwhile, back at the Nabootique, Howard and Peter were going through the photograph drawer for a picture of the shrine. They needed to know exactly what was on it. Eventually, after an hour, Peter found one. It was a photograph of Vince and the shrine back at the Zooniverse. It was perfect for what they needed.

"Right, I'm gonna go and ask around to see if anyone can locate some of these photos. Peter, can you look on eBay for some of the other things?" Howard asked, heading for the door.

"Ok, I'm on it." Peter replied, turning on Sapphire's laptop.

"Excuse me -" Another door slammed in Howard's face. "That's ten doors so far." Howard thought, whilst walking towards the next house. "Having a good reputation would probably be helpful." Everyone around the area knew him as 'that jazz freak' so they were not willing to help him find photographs of Mick Jagger for his friend. Finally, after twenty more doors slammed in his face, he came to Leroy's house. He knocked on the door.

"Oh, hey Howard." Leroy greeted him. "What can I do you for?"

"You wouldn't happen to have any of these photographs, do you?" Howard asked, holding up the photo of the shrine. "I accidentally burnt Vince's Jagger shrine to ashes so I'm trying to rebuild it."

"I might have. Come in."

Howard stepped into the house. As he suspected, Leroy hadn't tidied for over a year by the looks of things. You couldn't see the floor because of the clothes, magazines and litter that covered the floor. Howard lurked in the doorway, afraid to break anything on the floor.

"Aha!" Came a cry from the living room. "Here we go." Leroy came into view holding a wedge of photos. "I think that's all of them. Vince gave me copies of all of them in case of emergency."

"Excellent, thanks!" Howard said, opening the door. "I'll see you later sometime.

"Whatever."

As Howard stepped out onto the street, he wondered what Sapphire and Vince were up to.

* * *


	3. Feather bouquets and fake sapphires

**Note: I don't own Vince, Howard or Naboo. I DO own Artemis, Serendipity and Yuki, my lovely sims, and Sapphire and Peter. :)**

* * *

The door had been answered by a teenager, probably about 15, wearing gothic makeup and dressed in a strange outfit. He was wearing a silk shirt and skinny jeans but they were both emblazoned with these eccentric logos. Big eyes, weird mouths, kind of like bizarre monkey heads. On the back of his shirt were skulls accompanied by the words "The Mighty Boosh". Vince was sure he'd heard those words before.

"Oh, hey Sapphire. Come in." The boy said.

"I should introduce you. Vince, this is Artemis. He's Serendipity's boyfriend. Artemis, this is Vince. He adopted me from that git Fossil." Sapphire introduced.

"Nice to meet you." Vince smiled and held out his hand.

"Uh…yeah," Artemis looked alarmed by Vince's bright sequined t-shirt and neon pink skinny jeans. "Seren's through in the living room" He led the way.

"Strange boy." Vince whispered to Sapphire.

"He's a Goth. Bright colours scare him." She whispered back.

They entered the living room. It was huge. There were vast model butterflies hanging from the ceiling, black stars and silvery moons adorning the walls, a gigantic flat-screen wall television in front of the mismatched black and red armchairs and bouquets of crow and raven feathers all over the room instead of flowers. In one of the armchairs sat a girl, also about 15, with jet-black eyes and hair, and a little girl sitting on the arm of the chair, drawing something.

"Hey Sapphire!! This must be Vince! I'm Serendipity!" She waved at them.

The little girl groaned. "Seren! You moved!" She cried crossly, pushing Seren back into the chair.

"Sorry!" She replied, then she stayed perfectly still.

"That's my little half-sister Yuki. She's staying with us for a while. Like me, she's obsessed with eyes. She's drawing Seren's eyes in her notebook," Artemis explained. "Yuki, say hello."

Yuki turned round and grinned. "Hiya!!"

"Nice to meet you!" Sapphire smiled back. "Seren? Can we have a word with you and Artemis in a bit?"

"Of course!" Seren replied without moving her eyes.

"Is that Final Fantasy X?" Vince asked, pointing at a video game case.

"Yeah, it is. D'you want a go?" Artemis replied.

"I'd love a go! I wanted to get a PS2 but Howard-" Vince stopped talking at the mention of his ex-best friend.

Meanwhile, Howard had just got home with the photos. "Any luck on eBay?" He asked Peter, who was looking at the laptop in a vexed manner.

"Yes and no. Look at this." He swivelled the laptop around to show Howard. He gasped. There, in an eBay search, was everything that was on the shrine. At the bottom of the page was the price.

"1500 euros! Are they allowed to charge that much?" Howard asked, shocked.

"Apparently so. That stuff is quite rare. Where are we gonna get the money?" Peter asked, rotating the laptop so that it faced him again.

"I'm not sure. There must be a way."

"How much is in the till?"

Howard checked the till. "About 200 if we're lucky."

"Great!" Peter said sarcastically. "Just 1300 to go!"

"Oh, shut up!" Howard snapped. "I've got 100 saved up in my money box, 20 in my wallet…"

"I've got an idea!" Peter shouted suddenly.

"What is it?"

"Why don't you sell your Egg of Mantumbi and pretend it's just an egg-shaped sapphire!"

"That is a good idea. I'm glad I didn't let Vince swap it for that monkey wordsearch book back at the zoo. Where shall we sell it?"

"What about that jewellery shop in Camden?"

"Good idea. Let's go!"

"So let me get this straight." Seren said for the fifth time. "_You, _Vince Noir, rock 'n' roll star, want to be in a band with _me, _my friendand my boyfriend?

"For the fifth time, yes. Do you accept?" Vince sighed.

"Of course! You're amazing!" Seren replied, grinning.

"You only met him this afternoon." Artemis pointed out.

"So?"

"ANYWAY!" Sapphire said loudly, to gain everyone's attention. "Is it agreed that I will play guitar and sing, Artemis will drum, Seren will play guitar and teach Vince how to play bass guitar?"

"Agreed!" was everyone's reply.

"We will not accept this. It is obviously a fake."

"Sorry for wasting your time. Thanks anyway." Peter replied and he and Howard walked out of the seventh jewellery shop in Camden.

"This isn't working. What can we do?" Howard said, slumping onto a nearby bench.

"I've reserved all of those lots for 18 months. Maybe we can just use the takings from the shop." Peter suggested, joining Howard on the bench

"Good idea. Also, we can put our personal savings into the fund."

"I hope it's worth the effort." Peter said, sighing.

"It will be." Howard said and that was the end of that conversation

*******

**2 Months Later**

*******

Vince picked up bass pretty quickly. He'd learnt the basics in a month. Vince, Sapphire, Seren and Artemis had decided to call themselves Bubblegum Bonfire because they thought that it would look good on an album cover and sound good on TV.

"Are we ready to try and cover a song, d'you think?" Sapphire asked two months after they formed.

"Yeah, definitely. Can we do 'Cars'"? Vince asked.

"NO!"

"Okay, okay!"

"I think we should do a cover of Jolene, with wailing guitar, crashing cymbals, roaring and screaming!" Artemis suggested.

"Maybe not _too _much of that. A healthy balance between bubblegum and bonfire." Seren answered.

"What about bubblegum in the verse and bonfire in the chorus?" Vince recommended.

"Yeah okay! Let's practice!"

(Two week later)

Howard switched on the television. He wasn't feeling well so Peter and Naboo were minding the shop. He managed to switch it on while the were announcing the musical monthly chart.

"…and a new arrival at number 1, a new band, with their cover of Jolene, Bubblegum Bonfire!"

"Hmm? Bubblegum Bonfire?" Howard thought. "They sound good."

As the camera panned out, he saw the whole band clearly. All dressed in dark pink and black were, two teenagers he'd never met on guitar and drums, Vince on bass and Sapphire standing, with a guitar and microphone, at the front.

"No," He thought. "I must be dreaming."


	4. Confectionary and monthly musical charts

**Note: I DON'T own Vince, Howard or Naboo, but I DO own Sapphire and Peter, and my lovely sims Serendipity, Artemis and Kuni:)**

* * *

The band started playing. Mild taps on the crash cymbal and gentle chords on the guitars, Sapphire started singing "Your beauty is beyond compare, with flaming locks or auburn hair, with ivory skin and eyes of emerald green…" in a sweet voice.

Until the chorus, where the mild taps became solid whacks coupled with deafening drum fills, where the gentle chords became wailing notes and Sapphire's sweet voice turned to screams and roars as she sang "Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene - I'm begging of you please don't take my man…"

Then, the volume went down in the verse, and up in the chorus. It was amazing. Howard had recorded it on the video player. Vince was playing the bass guitar with expertise whilst dancing around the stage. He looked happier than Howard had seen him in a while. At the end of the song, Sapphire, Vince and the guitarist took a bow and the drummer played a few drums then whacked a cymbal. Howard pressed 'stop' then ran downstairs to tell the others.

"Hey, you won't believe what I just saw!!" He said excitedly.

"Was it something to do with Vince and Sapphire?" Peter asked, with equal enthusiasm.

"Yeah, they were just on TV! They're in a band!"

"What was the band called?" Naboo enquired.

"Bubblegum Bonfire I think." Howard replied. "They were _amazing_! They were doing a cover of that song 'Jolene' and they were brilliant! Vince was playing bass and Sapphire was singing and playing guitar and-"

Howard was babbling so much that he didn't notice Naboo going upstairs to his room. He plugged a keyboard into his crystal ball and typed in "Bubblegum Bonfire" It gave him a picture and a map of where they were situated. Then he plugged in a printer and printed this out. He picked it up and went downstairs.

"-And they've reached number one with it already! I've taped it, so you can watch it later." Howard obviously hadn't stopped talking since Naboo had left.

"Yeah, sounds amazing!" Peter answered. "Naboo? Where did you just go?"

"I've got a map to the place where Bubblegum Bonfire are located." Naboo told them. "They might not be there now but we can wait until closing time to go and see them."

"I think Peter should go and see them." Howard suggested. "Vince is probably still fuming with me."

"No, I think both of you should go. Both of you go at closing time." Naboo insisted.

Bubblegum Bonfire were in their changing room. They'd been given refreshments after their concert and they'd been there for half an hour.

"Mmm, I love Jelly Tots!" Sapphire cried, spotting a packet on the tray.

"Me too!" Vince agreed, reaching for the packet.

"I'd rather a Mars bar." Seren said.

"Hm, can I have some fair-trade dark chocolate?" Artemis asked, browsing the tray.

They all munched happily.

"I wonder if Howard or Peter saw the performance?" Sapphire thought to herself.

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in." Seren shouted.

A man, about 23, with messy black hair wearing a denim jacket and brown skinny jeans came in. He and Artemis recognised each other immediately.

"Artemis!" The man cried. "It's me, Kuni! I haven't seen you in ages!"

"Hey Kuni." Artemis replied with no enthusiasm at all. "What are you doing here?"

"I got a huge promotion. I'm a producer for Pieface Records now! And I want to produce your band!" Kuni replied excitedly.

"H'ng on." Vince swallowed his mouthful of Jelly Tots. "Where du you two know each other from?"

"Kuni's his half-brother in law." Seren explained.

"That's what I get from having a big family." Artemis muttered, picking up his chocolate.

"Of course you can produce our band!" Vince and Sapphire said simultaneously. "This is a dream come true!" Sapphire added.

"Cool. I'll go and tell my boss that you agreed." Kuni waved as he left the room.

"Ok. Let's go home before he comes back." Artemis suggested, getting up to leave.

"Wait. One of us should hang around here for him so we can give him contact details." Sapphire pointed out.

"I'll stay." Vince said.

"Yeah, ok." General agreement from everyone.

Howard and Peter had just reached the block of flats where Bubblegum Bonfire were located. It was huge. Also, they had no idea which flat they were in.

"Let's just wait until someone comes to the flats and ask them which one it is." Peter suggested, sitting down next to the door.

"Good idea." Howard concurred, joining him.

Not long after, they heard a group of people coming towards the flats.

"Let's ask them." Peter said, standing up and walking towards the people.

"Excuse me-" He stopped, shocked. He was talking to Sapphire, who looked equally shocked.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"We came to see you. Naboo found out where you were living." Peter explained.

"Oh, okay. D'you want to come in?"

"Yeah, thanks. Where's Vince?"

"He should be here soon. He's just giving our new producer contact details."

"Wow. You've got a producer already?!" Peter was surprised.

"Yeah. He's related to Artemis."

"Oh, right."

As they entered the building, Sapphire and Peter decided to have a race up the stairs as the lift could only hold five people and their equipment weighed quite a bit.

"Last one there's a rotten jazz record!" Sapphire yelled as they ran.

"Hey, that's not fair!"

"Aaw, sweet." Seren smiled then turned to Howard. "So, what happening with you, Harold?"

Before Howard could correct her on his name, Vince came through the door. When he saw Howard, Howard saw the fury still alight in Vince's eyes.


	5. Tears and general misery for Vince

**I'm really getting into this fanfiction:) Still no reviews...**

**Note: I do NOT own Vince or Howard, but I DO own Sapphire and Peter, and my lovely sims Artemis, Serendipity and Kuni, who all have new Bubblegum Bonfire outfits :)**

"What are you doing here?" Vince asked Howard angrily. "What is _he _doing here?" He asked Artemis and Seren.

Before any of them could answer, Kuni burst in through the door and straight into Vince, knocking him over. Artemis groaned audibly.

"KUNI! You're so clumsy." Artemis walked over to Vince and helped him up. "Are you ok?"

"I will be when he's gone." Vince replied, glaring at Howard.

"I'm sure we can work this all out." Kuni said reasonably.

"You don't know what happened, Kuni." Vince replied gravely.

"Still, it can be worked out." Seren said, smiling. "Harold, why don't you come up to our flat?"

"OK. It's _Howard _by the way, not Harold"

Up on the 7th floor, Sapphire and Peter were catching up on news while waiting for the others to come and open the door.

"So, you're rebuilding Vince's shrine?" Sapphire confirmed. "I hope he forgives Howard. Although being in a band is a thrilling life, I miss the shop."

"Yeah, it's much harder to work in the shop with only two people. It's so tiring." Peter told her. "What's taking them so long?"

Like an answer to his question, the lift door opened to reveal Howard, Artemis and their instruments. At the same time, Vince, Kuni and Seren came up the stairs. Howard looked uncomfortable, Vince looked infuriated, Kuni and Seren looked confused and Artemis looked…Gothic.

"Ah, there you are. Can we go in now?" Sapphire asked, smiling.

"Yep." Seren replied, handing them the keys.

"Cool, thanks." Peter and Sapphire said simultaneously.

"Now, Howard." Kuni said once Peter, Sapphire, Artemis and Seren had gone inside. "Tell me what happened that made Vince so angry at you."

As Howard explained for the umpteenth time, Vince slouched against the wall. The saying "Time heals all wounds" was evidently not true. It had been two and a half months since he'd last seen Howard and he was still furious at him. Every time Vince thought of forgiving him, the image of his glorious shrine being burned to ashes. All of the photos and special things, all the memories being swallowed by flames. "Quite poetic." He thought. "I might write a song about it."

"Vince?" Kuni said, waking Vince from his thoughts. "Why haven't you forgiven Howard? It was quite obviously an accident."

All of Vince's calm thoughts were swallowed by fury "I had that shrine since I was in the Zooniverse! It had gone through lots of travelling between houses and it hadn't broken. Then when Howard _went near it, _It caught fire and burned to ashes! Of course I'm not gonna forgive 'im!" He spat the words like poison.

"Right, let's go inside and try and think sensibly." Kuni suggested, ushering them inside.

_**20 minutes later**_

"I've already said! That shrine was irreplaceable! There's no way I can ever find all that stuff again. The Limited Edition signed CD, the lock of hair, all of the stuff on that shrine were totally exceptional. I'm NEVER gonna forgive Howard for what happened!!!"

After saying that, Vince had been forced to go and sit in the guest bedroom and calm down. As he was ushered to the other room, Vince looked like he was on the verge of tears which made Howard feel even more guilty about what happened.

"Look, I'm sure that if we rebuild that shrine to perfection, then Vince will forgive you." Peter said comfortingly.

"What's so great about Mick Jagger anyway?" Artemis asked.

"That's doesn't help. He's Vince's hero." Sapphire replied indignantly.

"I'll go and see if he's ok." Peter said, standing up and heading towards the door.

As he walked down the corridor, he could hear Vince sobbing in the guest room. Peter knocked gently on the door and went in. Vince looked a mess. His mascara and eyeliner merged with his tears in black streaks down his pale face. Peter had never seen Vince cry before. It was not a nice sight. He handed Vince some tissue.

"Are you ok Vince?" He asked.

Vince sniffed and mopped his eyes. "I've *sniff* decided. We'll come back *sniff* with you tonight."

"Really? That's great news!" Peter said happily.

"We'll *sniff* get our stuff. We're moving in here. If we're allowed."

"Oh…" Peter was crestfallen. "Ok, I'll tell Howard."

Peter came into the living room, with a miserable look on his face.

"What happened?" Sapphire asked curiously.

"Vince says that you and him will come back with us tonight to get your stuff. If you're allowed, he says you're both moving in here."

"WHAT?" was the reply from the whole room.

"Please say they're not allowed." Howard asked quietly.

"Sure, they're allowed. But I don't think it's fair." Seren said softly.

With the help of Kuni and his van, all of Vince and Sapphire's clothes and possessions had been successfully moved to Seren and Artemis's flat within two and a half hours.

Back in the seemingly emptier flat, both Howard and Peter were sitting in silence, despondent.

Peter was the first to break the silence. "Let's put extra effort into rebuilding that shrine."

Howard agreed. "Then, maybe, Vince will forgive me."

Suddenly, there came a huge crash from downstairs. Then, a group of drunken shamen came up the stairs loudly. Groaning, Howard and Peter escaped onto the roof.

* * *

* * *


	6. Memories and a style change

**I got my first review on this fanfic! Nothing can stop me now!! :D**

**Note: I do NOT own Vince, Howard, Naboo or the moon, but I DO own Kuni and his family, Serendipity and Artemis, my lovely Sims, and Sapphire and Peter are also mine. The poem featured is mine too.**

* * *

The stars were twinkling brightly as Howard and Peter sat on the roof, thinking. Thinking about why they were on the roof, and why they were there without Vince and Sapphire cheering them up. Peter looked back on the year he and Sapphire had spent as apprentices. _After the quiz, Naboo had thrown a huge party to celebrate peace between the apprentices. There had been feasting and drinking galore. Howard had - once again - escaped to the roof when the drinking and singing of the shamen and Vince's friends had become too much. He had been joined shortly after by Peter, his hair wet with alcohol._

"_Vince just emptied a bottle of vodka over my head." he had said irritably, shaking droplets of vodka out of his blonde hair. "He's such a clumsy drunk"_

_Howard had laughed and said "He's clumsy anyway. What's Sapphire up to?"_

"_Drinking. She's on the verge of passing out from alcohol." Peter had grinned wickedly. "Her and Vince are gonna have massive hangovers tomorrow."_

_Then, through the skylight, Vince had shouted "Hey Howard! Rrremember what 'appened lasht time we were up 'ere?"_

_Howard had sighed. He remembered all too well._

"_Peter? Is that old mattress still in the garden?" He had asked, standing up. When Peter nodded, Howard had jumped off the roof, just as Vince had popped his head out of the window._

_(Howard managed to completely miss the mattress and break both of his legs. Thanks to Naboo, he was healed in about a month.)_

"Peter?" Howard said suddenly, waking Peter from his reminiscing. "Would you think I was insane if I told you that the moon just spoke to me?"

"No," Peter replied. "Because I can hear it too."

Sure enough, the moon had spun around to reveal a face, eerily similar to Vince's. When it saw the bemused looks on Howard and Peter's faces, it just chuckled and said "I'm the Moon."

"Uh…hello Moon," Peter mumbled shyly, not entirely sure why he was talking to a planet. "We've got a problem."

"Carry on," The Moon replied "I'm all ears, although I have none!" It chuckled again.

"Yeah…our problem is we don't know how to get our friend back," Peter explained "An accident happened, and now he won't forgive one of us."

The Moon looked wistful for a moment, then it said "Ask the shaman, ask Naboo. I'm sure that he'll know what to do."

It was silent for a second, then it smiled and said "I made a rhyme. Hey Venus!" It shouted. "I made a rhyme! You didn't! Hee hee, I'm gonna go write that down." it turned around and said no more.

"That was not helpful in the slightest." Howard muttered moodily. "All Naboo's done so far is forced us up here by bringing his drunk friends over…"

Peter didn't respond. He was thinking. Then, suddenly, he had a thought. How had he managed to find the exact things they needed on eBay? He needed to check the sellers. He pulled Sapphire's mobile out of his pocket. She'd forgotten it again. He connected to the internet and went to eBay. He had to move about to get enough signal, but Howard didn't notice. He was too busy grumbling.

Peter checked the reserved lots. They were all being sold by the same person, . Naboo's username.

"Hey Howard," Peter tapped the older man's shoulder. "Look at this."

After looking at the phone for a second, Howard said "That little git. He's been testing us."

"But," Peter added. "This also means that those things are in the flat somewhere."

"You're right! Let's go and find them." Howard leapt to his feet and skidded to the edge of the roof, but Peter grabbed him just in time.

The next day, the flat in Belsize Park was in bedlam. Kuni had bought his little twin toddlers, a boy and a girl, with him because his sister was busy and his girlfriend was at work.

"Why did you have to bring them?" Artemis asked, snatching a vase out of the reach of the little boy's podgy hands.

"Because my sister was busy with her novel and my girlfriend just got a huge promotion at work, so her life's been extremely hectic lately." Kuni replied, picking up his daughter so she wouldn't chew one of the guitars.

"Give them here." Serendipity said, sitting down in one of the chairs.

"I'll hold one." Sapphire added.

"They won't throw up on my jacket, will they?" Vince asked nervously.

"I can't promise anything." Kuni replied, so Vince took it off quickly and hung it on the door.

"Are we gonna get any work done today, or are we just gonna play nursery?" Artemis asked. "I've done that enough with my siblings at home."

"Well," Kuni replied, after handing his son to Seren. "Pieface Records want me to ask you if you're gonna write any songs anytime soon."

"Vince said he was working on something." Sapphire replied. "Is it finished yet, Vince?"

Vince, who had been trying to stop one of the toddlers chewing his hair, said "Yeah, but I think it turned into a poem."

"Let's hear it anyway."

"Ok, it's called "Chemical Reaction"." He pulled a pit of paper out of his pocket.

"Add the red liquid that fizzes and pops

To the clear water in the beaker

As soon as they merged, a bang could be heard

Volume like a loudspeaker

From the debris came a disgruntled genie

Shouting angrily in Icelandic

Out of nowhere came a big silver bear

Who chased him away with a brick

Out came an elf who could fly

Also came a dwarf

Following them was a walking gem

With a pencil friend who could morph

After then came the bang again

With a huge cloud of smoke

The room rebuilt

The damage revoked

All of the creatures floated out of the window

And hopped over the fence

"What a strange way," I thought

"To spend a lesson of Science."

He folded the paper and put it back in his pocket

"That is brilliant!" Seren clapped. "But it is definitely a poem."

"I know…"

"We can probably put a tune to it and it'll work." Kuni reasoned.

"Yeah, maybe I could recite it, with a tune in the background, speeding and slowing to fit the lyrics." Sapphire suggested.

"No, what's the point? It's too much of a poem." Vince said, slouching onto a nearby chair. "I can't write for toffee."

"Don't worry. We can all write something together." Sapphire said comfortingly.

"Yeah that's a good idea." Kuni agreed. His mobile rang. "Hello? Oh hiya. Ok, I'll bring them now."

"What's happened Kuni?" Seren asked.

"My girlfriend's back from work. She's gonna give us a lift home in her helicopter."

"A helicopter? What's your girlfriend's job?" Artemis asked curiously.

"She's an actress. A really good one as well." Kuni replied proudly. "Well, got to go. I'll see you tomorrow, minus the kids hopefully."

"Ok, bye Kuni!!" Sapphire waved.

*******

Vince went into his bedroom. It was a three-bedroom flat, so he got one room, Sapphire got a room and Seren and Artemis shared a room (Artemis slept in a coffin and Seren slept in a canopy bed). Vince collapsed onto his bed miserably. "I want my old life back," he thought. "I want to be back in the shop with my shrine and my friends. But, since that is impossible, I want to be able to write a song at least."

He got up and went to his wardrobe. "A change of style is in order." He thought, opening the wardrobe door. It was full of colour. Pushing the colour aside, Vince found what he was looking for. His Goth clothes. He took them out of the wardrobe and got some scissors and a needle and thread at the ready. "Time to stop being the Bubblegum and start being the Bonfire." he said to himself.


	7. Fake Knifes and New Lyrics

**This chapter's totally focused on the band. More about Howard in the next chapter.**

**Note: I do NOT own Vince but I DO own Sapphire, Artemis, Seren and Kuni.**

* * *

Sapphire was eating breakfast, which consisted of last night's Chinese heated up in the microwave, in her pyjamas when Vince entered the living room, fully dressed.

"Hi, Vince, how are-" Her sentence was cut short when she saw Vince. He was dressed from head to toe in black. He was wearing a black silk t-shirt with a purple pentagram on it, and a black netting top over it. He was wearing black skinny jeans with red roses stitched up the legs. Over the jeans, he was wearing a many-layered skirt with alternating black and red layers of netting and material. He had heavy white blush and heavy back eyeliner. Also, he was wearing mascara and purple lipstick.

"Going for the Gothic look, are you?" Came a voice from the doorway. It was Artemis. He was still in his pyjamas, a Scarling t-shirt of Seren's and a pair of black shorts. "You're too Glam. Lose the skirt and the lipstick and you might look like a proper Goth."

As he left the room, Sapphire said to Vince "Sometimes I find it hard to believe that you're not a girl. Why the change of style?"

"Cos I was sick of being cheerful." He sat down on one of the mismatched chairs in the living room. He pulled a knife out of his pocket and swiped it gently against his pale arm. It left a trail of dark blood in its wake. When Sapphire gasped, Vince smiled evilly.

"Cool, isn't it?" He showed it to her. There was a fake blood bag on the handle, and a invisible tube going down the blunt blade. Vince squeezed the bag and a drop of extremely realistic fake blood fell from the tip.

"Took me ages to make the blood." He said, putting a stopper in the tube and put it in his pocket. "Had to get the right texture, the right colour and so on."

"So, why were you sick of being cheerful?" Sapphire persisted, not distracted.

"Cos there's nothing to be happy about." He replied glumly. "There's wars going on, people are dying, global warming's gonna kill us all, and this band's going nowhere…"

"What d'you mean? We've got a producer and we got to the top of the charts in two months!" Sapphire said quickly. "That's quite impressive."

"So? We've got no ideas and I have no writing talent at all." He slumped back in his chair.

"We can do another cover. What about a dark band?"

"Like who?"

"Umm, Scarling?" Sapphire guessed, thinking of Artemis's t-shirt.

"Ok, which track?"

"I don't know the tracks." Sapphire admitted.

"I do."

Artemis was in the doorway again, this time clothed in his usual outfit. "What about So Long Scarecrow?"

"But that's so gloomy." Seren had appeared in her pink dressing gown. Artemis scowled at the bright colour.

"But, we can follow it with staring to the sun."

"How about we mix the two? Two of us do the gloomy one, and two of us do the cheery one?"

"At the same time?"

"Umm, not sure."

"How about we do the cheery one, then it fades into the gloomy one?"

"Why don't we just DO A DIFFERENT SONG?" Vince shouted loudly over the hubbub.

"Which one do you suggest?" Artemis asked.

"Don't know."

"Let's just write a song of our own." Sapphire said.

**2 hours later**

"Right, so it goes like this.

Darkness, falls

Same as my happy features

My smile flies, away

I wish that I could follow

Soar high and soar truthfully

Fly far away, for good,

_Chorus_

A deception, a lie

That's all pleasure is

Inside, everybody screams

'Help me!

I'm too depressed to live

This way much longer'

The sun, will rise

As will my darkened mood

The fake smile's back again

I'll be happy, until the sun goes down

Then I can return

To my true, dark, gloomy self again.

_Chorus x2"_

"That's good. Not happy enough though." Seren said doubtfully.

"Who needs happy?" Artemis and Vince replied simultaneously.

"Who needs boys?" Sapphire said to Seren, who giggled.

The buzzer rang.

"I'll get it." Sapphire said, jumping up towards the door.

"It's Kuni!!" She shouted down the corridor.

"Yay, we can record it now." Artemis said without a drop of enthusiasm.

"Whoopee, we can be famous." Vince replied.

"What are you two muttering about?" Sapphire asked curiously.

Vince thought for a moment. "Designer coffins." He said eventually.

Seren rolled her eyes, but asked no more questions.

"Kuni'll be here in a minute."

"Let's creep 'im out!" Artemis said deviously.

"Yeah!!"


	8. A fake murdur and many lost tempers

**This chapter contains a bit of angst, but all will be rectified.**

**Thank you to my _only _reviewer, Bitey Moose, for giving me the will to carry on.**

**Note: I do NOT own Vince, Howard or Naboo, but I DO own Sapphire, Peter, Artemis, Serendipity and Kuni.**

* * *

Meanwhile, while the band were progressing in Belsize Park, a huge search was undergo in the flat. While Peter was downstairs, minding the shop with Naboo, who had been helping out a lot since Vince left, Howard was upstairs, looking through all of Naboo's things in his room. Although he did find all manner of interesting things, including a flask of Fountain of Youth water, a lock of Vince's hair wrapped in silk and a copy of a _very _embarrassing photo of Howard that Vince had taken when they were drunk at the Zooniverse, he didn't find the shrine items that Naboo had hidden somewhere. He did pocket the bit of Vince's hair though, he thought it looked important and he could blackmail Naboo with it. Also, he picked up the photograph, planning to burn it later.

"Hey, Howard. Where have you been?" Naboo asked, when Howard came downstairs.

"Can I have a word Naboo?"

"Ok, one moment."

Howard was pondering. How can he make Naboo give him the things? When Naboo came upstairs he said "Right Naboo, I've got a bone to pick with you."

"Ok, what about?"

"D'you want the important question or the vitally important question first?" Howard asked.

"I'll have the important question first." Naboo decided.

"Right. Why do you have this photo? I thought I reduced this to ashes."

"Ok…I was going to put it on your grave at your funeral in the Zooniverse, but I forgot." Naboo explained. "I have the power to bring things back from their ashes." when he realised what he'd said, he sighed. "Oops."

"Which brings me on to my second question. Peter and I found all of the items from Vince's shrine on eBay. All being sold from the same user, **Enigma. Net** ." Howard pressured the last words. "Your username, am I correct?"

"Yes…I was merely-"

"Testing us?" Howard finished. "Why?"

"……"

"Well," Howard continued when Naboo didn't answer. "I was going through your room, looking for said shrine items, when I found this." He pulled the lock of hair out of his pocket. "Important, is it?"

"Yes it is important. I've got a bit of your hair as well. I would need them to bring you two back to life if you died." Naboo explained wearily.

"I see. Well, can you give me the shrine items? Then we'll be able to get Vince back."

"Hmmm, let me think…no." Naboo replied.

"Oh, why not?"

"Cos it's your test. You have to get the items yourself."

Howard couldn't hold his temper any longer. "GIVE THEM HERE!! I…we need Vince and Sapphire back here. They're my best friends and they mean the world to m…us."

"No, you have to earn these things."

Howard lunged at Naboo in anger, but when Naboo moved smartly out of the way, Howard stumbled and fell headfirst down the stairs. Then, when he regained balance, he slipped and fell down the next flight of stairs. When he landed at the bottom, there were two loud CRACKs.

"Oh my God." Peter ran towards the stairs. "Howard? Can you hear me?"

He was unconscious, so Peter ran to the telephone and dialled 999.

"I'm sorry, but the number you have called is unavailable. Please -"

He hung up and tried 112.

"Hello, you've reached the emergency services. Which service do you need?"

"Ambulance please." Peter never forgot his manners.

"Ok, one moment…….Hello?"

"Yes, hello. My friend has just fallen down two flights of stairs and he's unconscious. We need an ambulance please." Peter gabbled.

"Ok, where are you?"

"We're in the Nabootique in Dalston. Please hurry."

He hung up, then ran upstairs.

"NABOO? What happened?"

"Well…" As Naboo explained what had just happened, Peter grew angrier and angrier. By the time Naboo finished, Peter was fuming.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST GIVE HIM THE STUFF, YOU TINY GIT!!?" He shouted. "He might die of internal injuries and it would be your fault!" Peter ran downstairs when he heard someone come in. It was the hospital people.

"He's over here. Thank you."

The band sat in their flat was in silence. Sapphire and Seren weren't speaking to Artemis and Vince after what they did when Kuni got there. Artemis had pretended to kill Vince with the fake knife by slicing it across his throat. Kuni had believed the act, as had Seren and Sapphire. When Vince sat up, laughing, Kuni had stormed out as Seren had kicked Artemis where it hurts and Sapphire had punched Vince in the face out of anger, giving him a nosebleed.

The phone rang. Sapphire got up and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Sapphire,-"

"Peter! How are you?"

"I'm fine, but Howard isn't."

"Oh, really? What happened?"

As Peter recounted the story of what happened, Sapphire grew more and more worried. When he finished, she said "Right, we'll be there as soon as we can." She hung up.

"There's been an accident." She told the room.

"What's happened?" Everyone replied, Vince and Artemis in flat tones, Seren in a worried voice.

"Howard's been hurt, he broke both of his legs. He's in the hospital."

"WHAT?!" Vince jumped up, worried. "We've got to get to the hospital NOW!"

"When's the next tube?" Sapphire asked.

"That's not important. Let's just go!"

"Which hospital is he in?" Seren asked, checking her tube timetable.

"The one closest to the Nabootique."

"Ok, there's a tube in five minutes." Seren said, after looking at the map for a second.

"LET'S GO THEN! There's not a moment to lose!" Vince shouted, sprinting to the door.

"It seems Vince has forgiven Howard then." Artemis announced as Vince opened the door.

"Yeah, it seems that way." Seren agreed, whilst being dragged out of the door by Sapphire.

"Yay, I love hospitals." Artemis said to himself, as he followed them out of the door.


	9. Waking from a three day coma

**Just a short chapter to build up to the next chapter.**

**Note: I don't own Vince, Naboo or Howard but I own everything else**

* * *

Howard tried to move his arms and legs. He couldn't. His head was a mess. The last thing he remembered was falling down the stairs, then his mind's a blur until that second. He managed to open his eyes a crack. He was in a white place. There were blurry shadows of people surrounding him. Also, there was heavy plaster on his legs.

"Look! He's waking up!" Said a girl's voice. Howard knew it, but his frazzled brain couldn't remember who it was.

"Is he ok?" That was Peter's voice. He recognised it immediately.

"M'fine." Howard replied, his voice gravely with lack of use.

"Come on Howard. You're anything but fine." Vince said, irritated. "I've been really worried about you."

"You've been in a coma for three days." Seren explained.

"We've all been worried about you." Sapphire added.

"Can one of you _**please **_escort this boy out?" A nurse interrupted, ushering Artemis away from the incinerator. "He's a nuisance. A sick, twisted nuisance!"

"But I'm _**sure **_flames are a different colour when body parts are being burned." Artemis protested, showing the nurse a picture on his phone.

"Uch! Please, just GO!"

"Ok, I'll take him home." Seren said, leaving the room.

"Vince," Howard croaked. "About your shrine…"

"Right," Vince interrupted. "Just wanted to make sure you were ok. I'm going now. Bye."

He left without another word.

"I'll go after him." Sapphire said, running out to the corridor.

"Howard. I'm gonna get those things from Naboo one way or another. It'll be sorted by the time you're out of here." Peter assured him. "Oh, and by the way. Vince didn't leave this hospital when you were in that coma. He was really worried."

When Peter left, Howard made a mental note not to mention the shrine next time he saw Vince.

Sapphire caught up with Vince at the exit.

"Why'd you storm off like that?" She asked angrily.

Vince brushed a few crumbs off of his skirt. "I had no reason to stay."

"Vince, him and Peter are _rebuilding _the shrine. So that you'll forgive him."

"Really? How?"

Sapphire remembered what Peter had said. "Ask the moon."

Vince made a mental note to do some stargazing that night.


	10. Tears and a challenge

**Yay! Double figures! I'm thinking of bring this fanfic to an end in a chapter or three. If anyone protests, please put your protest into a review! Thanx**

**Note:** **I DON'T own Vince, Howard, Naboo or the moon, but I DO own Sapphire, Peter, Artemis and Serendipity.**

* * *

Vince had never liked outside much. All the mud and rain just screaming to ruin his clothes and boots. But here he was, sitting on an old blanket on the roof of a block of flats, waiting for the moon to turn around and speak to him. He wondered if he was going insane.

"Come on Vince," his common sense, whose voice sounded annoyingly like Howard, said to him. "You weren't insane when Howard was kidnapped by a transsexual merman. You weren't insane when you and Howard were trapped in a box by a Cockney nut job. Talking to the moon is quite sane by your standards."

"Shut up." Vince muttered to his common sense. He sighed. This was getting boring.

The trapdoor in the flat roof opened and Sapphire came through it.

"Any luck with talking to the moon, Vince?" She asked brightly, handing him a bowl of fruit salad. He'd been eating mostly fruit and veg since the band started. He didn't have as much of an appetite these days.

"No," He replied, taking the bowl and nibbling on a bit of apple. "Hang on." He put the bit of apple down. "You're making fun of me aren't you? The moon didn't speak to Peter, did it? You just want to make me look stupid!" Vince glared at her.

Sapphire was hurt. "Why would _I_ want to make you look stupid?" She asked with tears in her eyes. She snatched the bowl of fruit from him and went back through the trapdoor.

Vince flopped back on the roof. Why did he say that? He wanted to believe that it was his new gothic look but he had a feeling that it wasn't. The trapdoor opened again and Serendipity came through it this time. She glowered at Vince.

"You just made Sapphire cry. Why did you say that to her?" She asked crossly.

"I don't know." Vince replied miserably. "I think it's this cold roof I'm lying on."

"That's not true and you know it." Seren replied. "You were fine before Howard got hurt. D'you think it's something to do with that?"

Vince sat up and started fiddling with his hair. "Because I overreacted about the shrine, people have started getting hurt and it's my fault." He buried his head in his hands.

"Don't worry. Howard will heal quickly, you can forgive him, and everything will be back to normal." Seren gave him a hug. Vince wept into her shoulder.

Artemis came onto the roof. "What's going on here?" He asked angrily.

"Vince has gone into Emo mode." Seren replied.

"Right. Just to let you know, Vince. Sapphire's not talking to you until you apologise. And I don't blame her either. You can be a right git sometimes." Artemis said scornfully.

"Artemis, Vince is feeling guilty about what has happened," Seren replied, with equal scorn. "Now is not the time to call him a git."

As she said those words, the moon swivelled round with a grinding sound, and grinned. "Ah, I've got a crowd tonight!"

"Vince! The moon is speaking! Vince!" Seren shook his shoulder gently. Vince sat up, wiping the running mascara and eyeliner from his pale face.

"Which one of you wants to talk to Mr Moon?" The moon asked playfully.

"He does." Seren said, pointing to Vince. Then, she and Artemis hurried through the trapdoor.

"Where are Howard and Peter getting the stuff to rebuild my shrine?" Vince asked hurriedly.

"Ah, Mr Moustache and Choir Boy?" The moon replied.

Vince glared up at him. "Don't call my friends names."

"Sorry. Well, the tiny man has the items they need."

"The tiny man? You mean Naboo?"

"Yeah. He's got the stuff."

"Right. Thanks moon, I'm gonna go and speak to that tiny git right now." Vince ran towards the trapdoor and hurried down the ladder.

"Oh. Now I got no-one to talk to." The moon span around again.

***

The phone rang. Shrilly. Naboo sighed. Why was everyone deserting him? He had to do _everything _on his own at the moment. He answered the phone.

"Hello, Naboo here. How can I-" His sentence was cut short by Vince roaring at him through the phone.

"WHY HAVEN'T YOU GIVEN THEM THE STUFF FOR THE SHRINE?! IN FACT, WHY DIDN'T YOU GIVE IT TO _ME!" _He bellowed at the receiver.

"Alright, keep your hair on! I was testing you all." Naboo explained.

"WHY?!" was the agitated reply from Vince.

"Because I wanted to make sure you and Howard would do the right things. Howard did the right things. You, however, did the wrong things completely." Naboo told him. "If you had forgiven Howard, since it was an accident, then I would have seen that you were worthy of his friendship. But, since you overreacted, I decided that you would need some time to see that you did wrong. Now, you have seen that it wasn't Howard's fault. So, you can have your shrine back."

"Really?!"

"But," Vince sighed. There was always a 'but'. "You and Howard have to do something. When he's better, Howard is gonna have to rebuild the shrine. I'll give him the stuff, but he has to reassemble it. And you," Naboo paused. "Bubblegum Bonfire have to make a EP to go on the Internet. If it reaches the top 5 most downloaded that week, you can move back in, forgive Howard and whatnot. Deal?"

Vince sighed again. He didn't really have a choice. "Deal." He replied.

"Good." Naboo hung up.

Vince collapsed into a chair. Everyone else had gone to bed. He decided to apologise to Sapphire in the morning and get straight to work. "This is gonna be tough." He thought.


	11. Painted feathers and a lecture

**Sorry for the delay. Good work takes time. Thank you to my reviewers, Lilithencoded and Bitey Moose, for giving me the will to continue**

**Note: I do NOT own Vince, Howard or Naboo but Sapphire, Peter, Artemis, Yuki and Serendipity are mine:)**

* * *

"Sapphire? Sapphire, wake up." Vince shook her shoulder gently.

"Wha-" Sapphire stirred.

"I just wanted to say sorry. I was a right git yesterday. I made you breakfast." Vince told her.

Sapphire sat up. Vince was standing next to her bed, holding a breakfast tray. He hadn't done his hair yet so it looked like a rat's nest. He handed her the tray. It had two pieces of toast smothered with chocolate spread on it, along with a bottle of strawberry and lychee squash. There was a bar of Galaxy Caramel chocolate on the side, along with a rainbow coloured feather in a glass vase.

"What's with the feather?" She asked, taking the tray.

"You know Artemis is allergic to flowers. I had to find a feather and paint it instead." Vince smiled. "I'm gonna go and do my hair now. See you in a bit."

Seren came in after Vince left. "Ah, he made you breakfast in bed. What a great apology."

"Why's he so chipper?" Sapphire asked through a mouthful of toast.

"He spoke to the moon last night. It told him what he needed to know. Then he phoned Naboo." Seren explained.

"Right."

"He says we have to have a band meeting."

"When?" Sapphire queried.

"Today at about midday."

"He never used to get up before midday." Sapphire said, this time through a mouthful of chocolate.

"Well, being in a band changes people."

As Vince left his room with his hair back to it's normal backcombed structure, he bumped into Artemis.

"I see you've abandoned your attempt to dress like a Goth." Artemis sneered, examining Vince's silver skinny jeans and pink sequined t-shirt.

"Oh shut up, Edward Cullen." Vince replied, edging his way past Artemis as he yelled "HOW DARE YOU compare me to HIM!"

Vince giggled. It was so easy to upset Goths. He went to the living room and sat down on a seat. He always found it easier to think of lyrics when he was alone in silence. He started thinking of as many different subjects as possible, seeing if any of them fitted into a song. None of them did. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. Why was it so hard? He picked up his notebook and looked around the room. The only inspiration there was feathers and butterflies. He buried his head in his hands. "This is useless…" he muttered.

Sapphire walked in and saw Vince, looking miserable. "What's up, Electro Boy?" She asked, grinning.

"Naboo told me that if Bubblegum Bonfire make an EP to go on the Internet and it reaches the top 5 downloaded that week, then I can get my shrine back and forgive Howard and such." Vince replied, then added miserably. "But I can't think of any ideas for new songs!!"

Sapphire was silent for a second, then she burst out laughing. "You banana! EP's only have to be two or three tracks long! We can just put the songs we've already done on it!" She told him, as he looked clueless. "Vince, you should use more computers."

"I make them break."

"Yeah, right."

Seren and Artemis walked in, accompanied by Yuki. "Oh, hey Vince." Seren said, waving. "Yuki's here to help us design a cover for the EP."

"Oh, cool," Sapphire responded. "We've decided that we're gonna use the two songs we've already done."

"Yeah, I think we should have a photograph on the front with swirls and arty stuff around the edges." Vince said to Yuki.

"OK, have you got a camera?"

Peter looked at his watch. Howard was supposed to get back from the hospital five minutes ago.

"Oh, where is he? I bet Naboo forgot to pick him up." Peter muttered to himself, pacing the shop agitatedly.

Then, the door opened and Howard came in, being lectured by Naboo.

"-You should stop breaking your bones, Howard," Naboo was saying. "I've fixed your legs twice. I've never had to fix Vince at all…"

"Hi Peter," Howard greeted Peter wearily with a wave. "Naboo's fixed my legs so we can get to work on that shrine."

"We still need the things." Peter reminded him.

"No, Naboo's giving them to us. Let's get cracking tomorrow."

"Agreed."

"Now, get to bed before you break anything else." Naboo ushered them both up the stairs.


	12. A very angry shaman

**Sorry for the delay, I've been writing an original story. Thanks to my reviewers, lilithencoded and Bitey Moose, for letting me know that someone's reading it.**

**Note: I don't own Vince, Howard, Bollo or Naboo, but everyone else is of my creation.**

*Two days later*

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Naboo covered his ears with his pillow. It was two o clock in the morning, and Howard and Peter were still hard at work on the shrine. Howard had only stopped for food and toilet breaks over the last two days. He was intent on finishing the shrine within the week. Peter had been making sure that Howard didn't collapse from lack of sleep by providing coffee and a bit of help. Bollo had gone to take the photograph for the front of Bubblegum Bonfire's EP so Naboo had to deal with the noise of Howard building on his own. He heard the odd screech of metal being sawed so he had an inkling that Howard was plating the shrine in metal for some insane reason, but if he went within three meters of Howard's room, the din was unbearable.

"KEEP IT DOWN!" He shouted, banging the wall between his and Howard's room. "I HAVN'T SLEPT IN TWO DAYS!"

Momentarily after this, there came a soft knock on the door, and Peter entered Naboo's room.

"Sorry. I would sound-proof the room but I don't know how." He said apologetically.

"It's not your fault. I'll go and sleep in the shop." Naboo replied, grabbing his pillow and duvet and stomping out of the room. The noise stopped as soon as he went downstairs.

"Oh, for f-" Before Naboo could turn around, the noise resumed.

"That's it." Naboo ran back upstairs, got dressed and left the shop.

Over in Belsize Park, Bollo had long since taken the picture, but he was chatting to Vince instead of getting straight back, like he'd promised.

"You should probably be getting back," Vince told him as he went to the kitchen to get Bollo another banana milkshake.

"Oh, but Naboo doesn't have milkshake." Bollo complained.

"I shouldn't even be getting you so many milkshakes," Vince continued from the kitchen. "I'm supposed to be helping Yuki and Sapphire design the cover and after that I'm supposed to help Artemis and Seren mix the music, so you should definitely leave."

"But I got no money." Bollo said quickly. Right on time, the doorbell rang.

"Who's that gonna be? It's one in the morning!" Artemis said to himself, leaving the mixing room, the bathroom to be precise, to answer the doorbell.

"Hello?" Artemis held the phone far away from his ear. "It's Naboo, but he doesn't sound happy."

"Tell him he can come up." Vince replied.

In less than a minute, there came an angry knock at the door. Artemis opened it.

"Should I call Vince and Bollo?" he asked politely, which was odd for Artemis.

"WHAT? Bollo's still here?" Naboo shouted furiously.

Bollo came lumbering towards the door quickly. "Sorry Naboo," He said, hanging his head. "I was just about to leave."

"Well, let's go then. Howard's sawing metal so I can't sleep. You've got to help me block the noise." Naboo dragged him out of the door in a flash.

"Now he's gone, you can get started on the cover with Yuki." Artemis said to Vince, back to his normal crabbiness, closing the door.

"Why were you so polite to him?" Vince asked. Artemis blushed.

"Uh…well…no reason." he murmured.

"You're scared of him aren't you?" Vince teased. Artemis shrieked.

"I am NOT!!"


End file.
